


About Names

by nachocheese26



Series: The Gangsitter [9]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Ben is a little shit, F/M, but he gets the importance of names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:07:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29868897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nachocheese26/pseuds/nachocheese26
Summary: He could’ve messaged two weeks ago. Everything was fine now. Marcus was even starting up the routine of spending the weekends with him and he was outside this apartment waiting for this kid to hobble out so they could finally get the cast off.But the time away made him realize how intertwined his life had become.Not just with her, but with the kids too.And maybe he had encouraged it. Pushed it along and made himself available for the kids. For her.All that’s gotta change though.
Relationships: Beth Boland/Rio
Series: The Gangsitter [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1494128
Comments: 12
Kudos: 126





	About Names

**Author's Note:**

> It's finally done, this piece that has been stuck, halfway finished for I don't even remember how many months. And it just feels so good to finally post this! I have a couple more ideas I'm wanting to explore with this series, which I kind of hint at in this little story. But if there's something you'd like to see, feel free to give me a prompt on tumblr!: nachocheese-itsmycheese.tumblr.com
> 
> Thank you everyone who has read and re-read and left wonderful comments and kudos. It really does mean so much to me and keeps the inspiration from dying out!

He stared at the message that was sent ten minutes ago. _Outside_. No response and it didn’t even look like there was movement coming from the apartment building. He knew of course to give it some time, but come on. Ten minutes and no response? If this was a business deal, he would’ve been out of there if he waited for one minute. Then he would send his guys so they could make sure the person understood he waited for no one.

But he had been out of this world for almost two months now. Things ran differently in this world.

Rio slouched a little in his seat, checking the apartment building once more.

Still nothing.

He started scrolling through his recent messages on his work phone, making sure there weren’t any messages he forgot to respond to or forward to one of his boys to take care of.

But there was nothing, especially since his little problem was dealt with.

Damn, he just remembered he had to pick up some dry cleaning. Hopefully, they took out all the stains this time.

He pocketed his work phone and pulled out his personal one. His thumbs tapped around the screen until he was opening a message thread that he found himself looking at more often than he should.

The contact name at the top read _Elizabeth._

_R u mad at me becase I acidentllly caled you daddy?_

_Kenny popped my unikorn balon!_

_Emma’s lieing! I didn’t pop her balloon!_

_When are you coming back?_

_How do you make a sqwerl to like you? Act like a nut!_

_Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I haven’t even noticed the kids have been messaging you. I’ll get them to stop._

Then he re-read the last message that he received almost a month ago.

_They really miss you. We all do._

He could’ve messaged two weeks ago. Everything was fine now. Marcus was even starting up the routine of spending the weekends with him and he was outside this apartment waiting for this kid to hobble out so they could finally get the cast off.

But the time away made him realize how intertwined his life had become.

Not just with her, but with the kids too.

And maybe he had encouraged it. Pushed it along and made himself available for the kids. For her.

All that’s gotta change though.

No matter how much he wouldn’t mind if it happened. He’s always been willing. The only thing holding him back was her. Waiting for her to be ready.

He scoffed a little to himself. When the hell did he become so patient?

But things happened during that little situation he had to take care. Things that terrified him and things that made even him ashamed.

_It’s lonely on top._

There’s a bang that made him jump and he started fumbling with his phone.

Through the window of the passenger side door, he saw the kid with a shit-eating grin.

Rio growled as he stretched to open the door to help him with the crutches. “Damnit, Sadie. You better not have scratched up my car.”

He slid into the seat and tossed his crutches in the back. “Um… it’s Ben now. Actually.”

Rio looked at him, gave a quick nod, then said. “You better not have scratched up my car, Ben.”

Ben grinned. “It’s not my fault. I was waving at you and trying to get you to open the door, but you weren’t looking away from your phone.”

Rio put his seatbelt back on and grumbled out a response that he didn’t bother repeating at Ben’s quirked eyebrow. “So, what you tell your mom?” Rio asked, making a quick change to some contact info and pulling out of the parking lot.

Ben shrugged. “I was going to the movies.”

Rio pursed his lips and gave a small nod. He didn’t tell Ben not to tell Annie about picking him up to get his cast off. But he did not _not_ tell Ben not to tell Annie. Because if she found out he was back again, then Elizabeth would know and then there would be questions and he just needed a bit more time to get his head back on straight and figure out if he really was ready to dive into everything that was Elizabeth Boland.

“Then what’s the story for when you show up without the cast?”

Ben shrugged. “I’ll think of something.” He shifted around in the seat, slouching a little and staring down at his hands. “So where have you been?” he asked, failing horribly at being subtle.

Rio was sure he heard from his cousins about his disappearance. And now he wondered if Ben told them about this meeting and was now trying to get information from him. “Around,” Rio finally answered.

“Cool, cool.”

Rio glanced at him as he approached a stop sign. He could tell Ben was trying to find a way to ask for more details without raising suspicion.

Rio decided he would make it easier for him. “Which of your cousins asked for information then?”

“What?” Ben’s voice squeaked. He quickly cleared his throat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t talked to any of them this week.”

Rio snorted. “Bull shit.”

Ben opened his mouth to protest, but then quickly shut it. Rio had him. “Okay, so I told Kenny and then Kenny told everyone else.”

Rio bit the inside of his cheek. “Everyone?”

Ben smirked. “Except Aunt Beth.”

Rio gave Ben a side-eye glare.

“They just want to know when you’re coming back. That’s all.”

“Then why you askin’ where I’ve been?”

“Can you blame me? You took off for like four months!”

Rio rolled his eyes. “Kid, it was only a month and a half. Where the hell you getting four months from?”

“Well, it felt like four months.”

Rio snorted. “So what’s been going on while I’ve been gone for four months?”

Ben told him all about school and his friends, how much he hated group projects, Annie somehow still managing to buy his meds for the transition.

When Rio parked at the hospital, Ben had one last thing to say. “Oh and Aunt Beth got a boyfriend.”

Rio snapped his head to look at him, but Ben was already getting out of the car.

He sat there for a few moments. What. The. Hell. That couldn’t be right. He has his boys keeping an eye on the house and the family while he was busy. Not once did they mention some other guy hanging around and maybe Rio himself had spent some time this week checking in on things from a distance and there was _no way_ Elizabeth Boland had a boyfriend.

Rio finally got of the car and caught up to Ben. It wasn’t that had since he couldn’t get that far in crutches anyways. “I think you’ve got your information mixed up,” Rio said. “There ain’t no way she’s got a boyfriend.”

Ben looked up at him, a smirk on his face. “How would you know? Are you stalking her?”

For a moment, Rio considered kicking one of Ben’s crutches. Rio took a deep breath and reminded himself the kid wasn’t even in high school yet.

“She met him online, but he lives in Seattle, so they’ve online done virtual dates so far. But Kenny says that he’s planning on flying in soon so they can go on a real date.”

More and more, Rio was convinced Ben was pulling this out of his ass. There was no way Elizabeth met this guy online. She moved way too slow in the relationship department. And when would she even find the time to meet this guy and have a virtual date with him when she’s always with the kids because that asshole of an ex-husband is always busy something and doesn’t have time to watch the kids and-

“Sir? Are you going to take the clipboard or have your son fill it out?”

Rio blinked. They were now standing inside the hospital at the front desk. The nurse holding the clipboard looked like this was coming to the end of her fifteen-hour shift and she did not look up to dealing with anyone’s nonsense.

She actually reminded him of Ruby Hill.

Rio took the clipboard and ignored her comment about Ben being his son and he also ignored Ben’s smug expression.

They sat down and Rio filled out the paperwork, mentally calculating how much this was going to cost and reminding himself he had enough cash to take care of the bill upfront.

“So what we’re you doing for the four months?” Ben asked as soon as Rio handed the nurse all the paperwork.

Rio crossed his arms over his chest and didn’t look at him. “Work. And it was only a month and a half.”

“What kind of work though?”

Rio glanced at him. “You don’t want to know.”

And maybe it was a good thing Elizabeth had this boyfriend. It would much easier to cut their ties. Less mess. They could go back to making this a professional relationship. A business partnership. None of these strings attached.

They waited for a bit in silence, before Ben took a deep breath and turned to Rio. “Do you like Aunt Beth?”

Rio looked at him, wondering if this entire time he was quiet, he was just trying to gather his nerve. “Don’t matter,” he answered, staring straight ahead again. “She’s got a boyfriend. I’m backing off.”

“Didn’t stop you when she was still married to Dean,” Ben mumbled.

Rio quickly turned to look at Ben and he actually winced. “I heard my mom talking about it, okay!”

Rio shook his head. “It wouldn’t have worked out.”

“How do you know?”

Rio let out a heavy sigh. “When you get older, you just know these things.”

Ben snorted as he held back a laugh.

Rio raised an eyebrow and Ben just shook his head.

“Sorry, it’s just you made it sound like you’re an old man talking about a war or something.”

Rio dragged a hand down his face. God, he hoped Marcus wouldn’t become a little shit like this.

“I got a dangerous job, Ben. Ain’t fair to Elizabeth or any of her kids.”

Ben tilted his head. “You know, you’re the only one that calls her that.”

“It’s her name, isn’t it?”

Ben shrugged. “Yeah, but…it just makes you special because…”

“Because what?” Rio asked, his interest piqued.

“Because you call her Elizabeth.”

Rio gave a small shake of his head. “It’s just her name. Ain’t nothing special in that.”

It looked like there was more that Ben wanted to say, but a nurse came out and called his name.

After an hour, Ben’s cast was finally taken off and replaced with a boot he could use without crutches. The doctor gave him a list of stretches he needed to do to build up the muscle in his foot again and if he didn’t walk too much or try to run, he could have the boot off in two months and this whole injury would finally be behind him.

They walked to the parking lot and Rio started climbing in the driver’s seat.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Rio frowned, staring at Ben from the windshield as he stood in front of the car. “I’m getting in. What are you waiting for?”

“But remember? At Thanksgiving, you said you were going to teach me how to drive once I got the cast off.”

Rio laughed. “And you still got a boot on. There’s no way I’m about to show you how to drive when you can’t even properly use your foot yet.”

“Aw, come on!”

“Get in or you’re walking.”

“Fine,” Ben grumbled as he hobbled his way to the car.

The drive was quiet for the most part. Ben making a random comment or observation and Rio giving a small hum of acknowledgement. He didn’t feel up to making conversation anymore. Because his mind was still revolving around Elizabeth and trying to figure how long she was talking to this guy in Seattle and how hard would it be to hack into her email account to find out? He was sure one of his guys knew someone that could get him access to it and then he could find out everything about this guy and he knew some people in Seattle that could-

_No._ He couldn’t do that. He was moving on, remember? They both were. And she took that first step already.

Now it was his turn.

Rio pulled into the parking lot at the apartments. “You good?” Rio asked as he stopped at the curb right by the stairs.

Ben nodded. “Yeah. Thanks again. And you _promise_ you’re still going to teach me how to drive?”

Rio held up his left hand and placed his right over his heart. “Like I said, once your foot is completely healed. Which is what I said that first time, you just want to remember it differently.”

Ben grinned as he got out. “Oh, by the way, I was trying to figure out why it’s a such a big deal you call her Elizabeth.”

Rio rolled his eyes. “Ben, we are not-“

“It’s because she doesn’t _let_ anyone else call her that. She always tells people her name’s Beth. And if she didn’t like it, she would’ve told you a long time ago. But she never did. You still get to call her Elizabeth. And…I don’t know, names are kind of big deal.”

Rio smiled. “You’re a good kid, Ben.”

He grinned. “I know.” He closed the door, gave a quick wave and made his way up the stairs, moving a bit faster now that he didn’t have to deal with the crutches.

Rio waited until he couldn’t see Ben anymore to drive away. The plan was to grab some food and head back to his apartment. He had an early morning tomorrow and wanted to get some rest.

But somehow, he wasn’t exactly sure, he ended up at Elizabeth Boland’s house.

And instead of parking a few houses down to watch the house and make sure everything was good, he parked right in front.

Rio turned off the car, but didn’t move.

God, what was he doing here?

He put the key back into ignition, but before he could turn the car back on, there was a loud crashing sound. Rio turned to see a baseball rolling down their front yard and the front window broken.

Then the front door opened and Kenny and Emma came running out and stare at the window and Danny showed up and was yelling and the other two kids joined him in yelling and were pointing fingers.

Then Elizabeth came out, face a mixture of anger and shock as she stared at the three kids and then the window and yelling loud enough for even him to hear from inside the car of how many times she’s told them not to throw things inside the house.

Jane was the last one to come out, staring at the commotion and her eyes wide as her mom tried to figure out which kid was to blame.

But Jane was the only one that saw his car.

Rio could drive away now. Jane was tugging on Elizabeth’s shirt, pointing to the car and trying to grab her attention. Rio could back the car up until the next house and then pull away and no one would know it was him.

He took the key out of the ignition though.

And Jane finally grabbed Elizabeth’s attention and now they were all staring at his car.

“Rio’s back!” Emma yelled.

The four kids came running to the car. Rio stepped out and immediately braced himself as Jane and Emma crashed into his legs and Kenny and Danny practically bounced around him to ask when he came back, what were they going to do, if he wanted to stay for dinner, if he was going to leave for a long time like that again.

Rio managed to pry Emma and Jane off of him and he made the slow trek up the driveway with the four kids still surrounding him and bouncing everywhere and not walking in a straight line, instead revolving around him as they continued peppering him with questions.

He stood in front of her and he smiled. “Elizabeth.”

And he smirked as he saw her shoulders slump a little and her eyes go a little glassy. She swallowed hard. “Rio. You’re back.”

Rio continued smiling. She didn't correct him. She never corrected him when it came to her name. Then he turned his attention to the broken window. “So who did it?” he asked, giving a small nod towards the window as he looked to the kids.

Again, they all started yelling and giving their own excuses and placing the blame on anyone else.

Elizabeth groaned and shook her head. “If no one confesses, then you’re _all_ grounded!”

Protests rose up of how unfair that was and she couldn’t do that and still no one took the blame.

“You have until the count of three to fess up,” Rio spoke over their yells. “One…”

“It was Kenny’s idea!”

“Emma was the one that was supposed to catch it!”

“I told them they had to play outside!”

“Two…”

“But it’s not like we broke something that can’t be replaced!”

“Danny throws too hard!”

Rio glanced at Elizabeth, her arms crossed as she stared at the kids and trying to determine which one did it. “Thr-“

“I did it!” All four kids exclaimed.

Elizabeth let out heavy breath as she massaged her forehead. “Okay, just…all of you get inside and we’ll figure out what to do with you.”

_We_. Rio tried not to, but he smirked at that little word.

The kids shuffled inside and Elizabeth turned to look at Rio. She bit her lip before asking, “Do you want to come in?”

And he wanted to ask right then and there about Seattle and this guy. But he could wait. She needed to deal with the kids right now. “Is it a good time?”

She smiled. “With four kids, you have to force it to be a good time.”

Rio chuckled and followed her inside.

“I just need to check on dinner really quick, then I’ll deal with the kids and-“

Rio shook his head. “Nah, you handle them. I got dinner.”

Elizabeth let out a relieved breath. “I’m glad you’re back.”

Before Rio could respond, the kids started arguing amongst themselves of who was going to take the blame.

“Go on, mama. They’re waiting.”

Elizabeth both smiled and groaned as she made her way to the living room and Rio headed to the kitchen.

She was making spaghetti and meatballs and the water for the pasta was boiling. Rio lowered the heat, added the spaghetti. He stirred the sauce, made sure the meatball weren’t burning and as soon as it was time to put it all together, Elizabeth found the culprit.

Danny.

He was grounded from all video games, TV, and had to go to bed an hour earlier for a week. Everyone else was only grounded from TV since they were all throwing the baseball inside.

Elizabeth came into the kitchen with the kids following after her. She pulled down plates as they sat at the bar and started questioning him again.

Rio answered as best he could, changing or excluding some details while Elizabeth handed him the plates.

He counted a total of six plates that he served. “You expecting someone?” he asked as he filled the last plate with spaghetti.

She blinked. “Oh. Well, I just thought that since you were here…”

Rio grinned. “All right. Don’t got any plans for tonight anyways.”

Jane and Danny took the plates to the table while Emma and Kenny grabbed cubs and pulled out some grape juice.

And Rio decided now would be as good a time as any. “So how’s Seattle?” he asked.

A cup clattered to the floor. Thankfully, it was plastic one.

Kenny winced. “Sorry,” he mumbled as he picked it up.

But Rio noticed how red his face had gotten.

“Seattle? Fine, I guess,” Elizabeth answered.

“You ain’t got any plans to visit sometime?” Rio asked, glancing at Kenny and watching how stiff his movements became.

Elizabeth frowned. “No…not really. I don’t know anyone out there.”

“Huh, thought I heard otherwise.”

“Kenny, what are you doing? We have to pour the juice first, _then_ take them to the table.”

“We can just do it at the table!” Kenny said as he carried the empty cups to the dining room.

Rio smirked. He wondered who’s idea the lie was then. Ben or Kenny? He planned to bring it up when they were together. He might even do it in front of Elizabeth and Annie. Just to mess with them.

“I’m glad you’re back,” Elizabeth said as soon as they were alone. “The kids missed you.”

Rio raised an eyebrow. “Just the kids?”

Elizabeth pursed her lips, then gave a small eye roll. “Okay, we all missed you.”

His lips felt dry, so quickly licked them. He noticed her eyes catching the movement and taking too long to go back up to his eyes. “Missed y’all too.” Then he gestured towards the living room. “So what are you going to do about that window?"

Elizabeth sighed as she tapped her fingers against the countertop. “It’s too late to call someone to come out here. I’ll have to cover it with a tarp and deal with it in the morning.

Rio pursed his lips. “It’s at the front of the house. Anyone could come in while you’re sleeping. Heard there’s criminals in the area.”

Elizabeth laughed. “Oh, you would know.”

“So would you, mama.”

And she took a step closer to him, with her cheeks flushing and her eyes never leaving his mouth. Rio took a step closer too and he could feel the heat radiating off of her and-

“Mom! Can we eat now?”

Elizabeth jumped back. “Um, yes! Just a minute!” She looked everywhere _but_ him as she smoothed down her clothes that Rio didn’t even have the chance to touch.

Before she could walk past him to the dining room, Rio reached out and grabbed her wrist. She inhaled sharply as she looked down to his fingers then slowly dragged her eyes up to his.

“I can stay. Make sure no one tries getting in,” Rio said. “If you want me to.”

“You aren’t busy?” she asked.

“Not for you.”

She smiled. “Okay.”

“Mom! We’re hungry!”

“Oh my God,” Elizabeth grumbled, then called out. “I’m coming!”

And Rio couldn’t help himself. He leaned in close and whispered, “Mm, hope to hear you yelling that at me one day.”

Her entire face flushed as she stared at him with an open mouth and Rio couldn’t stop smiling.

Moving his fingers a little to intertwine with hers, he gently tugged her into the dining room where the kids were waiting.


End file.
